Bringing Identity into the Clinic: Investigating Identity Negotiation in Psychosis
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Wolfson Institute
Abstract
Maev's research focuses on how experiencing psychosis and receiving a diagnosis may affect patients' identity and sense of belonging to different groups, and identify if and how identity negotiation processes are linked to clinical outcomes. Her research aims to translate insights from social psychology into methodological tools to study identity negotiation processes in people with psychosis, link them to outcomes and develop guidelines for good practice. Research questions will include: How has identity change and negotiation been described in the mental health literature? How do people describe the experience of identity negotiation following a diagnosis of psychosis? How can processes of identity negotiation be measured quantitatively in a way that is understandable and meaningful to patients? Are identity negotiation processes linked to health outcomes (quality of life and social situation)?
Publications
Conneely, M
(2020)
Understanding identity changes in psychosis: a systematic review and narrative synthesis
in Schizophrenia Bulletin
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000703/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1917463 | Studentship | ES/P000703/1 | 01/10/2017 | 31/03/2021 | Mebh Conneely McInerney |
| Description | The first piece of work that was part of this project was to carry out a systematic review and narrative synthesis of identity change in psychosis. A conceptual framework was created comprising five ways of understanding identity change in psychosis. The completion of this systematic review and creation of the conceptual framework of identity change in psychosis was the first objective of the project, which has now been met. The second piece of work was to conduct a cross-sectional survey exploring social identity and quality of life in people with psychosis. The third piece of work was to conduct interview with people who have experience psychosis about their understandings of social identity and changes in social identity. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings of the systematic review and narrative synthesis can be taken forward in clinical practice and in research (the findings can be found at the url above, published in Schizophrenia Bulletin). The five ways of understanding identity change that make up the conceptual framework might help clinicians explore with patients the ways identity changes might be experienced, and for researchers the framework can be used as a way for researchers to orient themselves in the existing literature. The framework could be expanded and adapted to other settings. The findings of the second study, the quantitative survey, indicate that there are associations between quality of life and social identity features in people with psychosis, whereas social contact is not associated to quality of life. This has important implications for the design of interventions aiming to increase quality of life in this population. The third study, the interview study, indicates that people experience conflict and identity loss that is independent to psychosis. From people's experience, psychosis appears to compound existing disconnection and lack of belonging, rather than create it. |
| Sectors | Healthcare |
| URL | https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/advance-article/doi/10.1093/schbul/sbaa124/5912736 |
| Description | Overseas Institutional Visit |
| Amount | £5,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2019 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Description | Patient and Public Involvement |
| Amount | £486 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2021 |
| End | 04/2021 |
| Description | Public Engagement Fund |
| Amount | £1,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
| Department | Centre for Public Engagement |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 03/2019 |
| Description | Understanding chronic loneliness: Bringing lived experiences and scientific research together |
| Amount | £900 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2021 |
| End | 04/2022 |
| Description | Belonging, Identity and Psychosis: exploring conceptualizations, associations and experiences |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I gave an invited to talk for the Ohio State University, at their EPICENTRE speaker series - a series of talks about psychosis research and practice. The organisers reached out to me after reading my paper published in Schizophrenia Bulletin and offered to pay me to give the talk about my doctoral work. The talk was given on Zoom to an audience of over 50 people, who asked questions and engaged with the work. The audience included people who treat patients, students, researchers, people who use services and people working in other areas of research within the university. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://medicine.osu.edu/departments/psychiatry-and-behavioral-health/epicenter/epicenter-speaker-se... |
| Description | Live Experience Expert working on qualitative analysis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | Using funding obtained successfully from an application to the Centre for Public Engagement, a lived experience researcher was recruited to work on the analysis of interviews about identity changes in psychosis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Live Experience Experts working on analysis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | We had two meetings, and ongoing discussions over email and phone about the analysis of the systematic review and narrative synthesis. Two people with a lived experience of psychosis were employed to work on the project using funding awarded by the Centre for Public Engagement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| Description | Patient and Carer Advisory Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
| Results and Impact | The project (the PhD as a whole and the systematic review) was presented to a group of patients and carers (the Service User and carer Group Advising on Research - SUGAR) so that they could advise on the ideas for the future projects and feedback on the ongoing analyses and general progress of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| Description | Presentation at the International Social Identity and Health Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Identity and identity change have been topics of interest in psychosis since schizophrenia was first classified as a disorder. I will present work from my PhD that takes an inter-disciplinary (clinical psychiatry, social psychology) and collaborative approach (working with people who have been diagnosed with psychosis) to exploring identity in psychosis. Two strands of this work will be explored in particular: 1) a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the meaning of identity change in psychosis, 2) a survey applying the social identity approach to people diagnosed with psychotic disorders (N=200). The review took a broad approach, spanning across the different theoretical approaches and methods used in psychiatry to understanding identity change, revealing five trans-theoretical ways of understanding identity change in psychosis. To our knowledge, this survey is the first to study social identity in people diagnosed with psychotic disorders. Using social identity mapping (Cruwys et al 2016), we were able to test hypotheses, derived both from the social identity approach to health, and from the psychiatric literature on the social determinants of health. We will show how features of people's social identities (the number of groups, how positive, important and compatible they are) are associated with their satisfaction with life, controlling for symptoms, time since diagnosis and social contact. Short abstract (maximum of 300 characters, including spaces): Two strands of work will be presented: the results of a systematic review and narrative synthesis exploring the ways identity change has been understood in psychosis and the results of a large-scale survey applying the social identity approach to people diagnosed with psychosis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://icsih.com/ |
| Description | Talk at a conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A talk at an international conference sparked discussion and questions. People reported interest in the area and collaborations might follow. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |